


House Of Memories

by Ellie_Elizabeth



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Jack Kelly - Freeform, Javis - Freeform, M/M, Mentions of Violence, Modern Newies, Murder, Murder Mystery, Over protective boyfriend Spot (eventually), Shy!Davey, Theater!AU, david jacobs - Freeform, haunted theater (not related to phantom), mentions of abuse, some blood, sprace, trans!race
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-24 02:05:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14345670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellie_Elizabeth/pseuds/Ellie_Elizabeth
Summary: When his adoptive mother buys an abandoned theater, Jack Kelly never expects to be pulled into a decade old mystery, and in the process somehow get himself a boyfriend.***(Mild mentions of abuse and violence, also slight transphobic/homophobic language)





	1. Chapter One: I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the Newsies AU I came up with at 11pm on a school night.

1905.

 

The young girl tried not to shake as she silently made her way through the eerie and quiet hallways of the dark theater.

Something wasn't right, growing up in an environment like this she knew that the halls of the theater were never quiet. Even if there wasn't a show being performed or if practice that night had been canceled, something was always happening no matter what.

But not tonight, a low fog had set over the dim streets of Lower Manhattan and thunder lightly crackled in the distance. The lantern she held was grasped tightly in her hand as she continued down the long passageways, looking for the source of a loud crash that had plagued the theater moments before.

Earlier that night Antonio had decided to share some of his favorite ghost stories, and the thoughts of those were definitely not helping right now. With every creak and crack this old theater made, the idea that something would jump out at her at any minute was starting to become not so crazy.

Still she continued on, praying to whatever god was listening that nothing would be found. Door after door, room after room, when nothing turned up it finally seemed like everything was clear and she could return to her waiting family downstairs. 

Approaching the last room, which was the prop closet, the girl slowly turned the knob and pushed opened the large oak door. Like the others before it, the room was dark aside from the parts being illuminated by the lantern. Nothing seemed amiss at first, as the one light bulb over head slowly turned on, and the girl almost turned to leave. 

But then something near the back of the closet caught her eye. She turned back around to see what looked like a tuft of hair sticking out from behind one of the large shelves. Then she noticed the red liquid that surround the floor near the shelf as well. 

Without thinking, she slowly start approaching the body. A million thoughts ran through her head as she rounded the shelf and instantly recognized the person laying on the floor before her. She didn't move or say anything for almost ten seconds, her eye fixed only on the body in front of her. 

Finally coming to her senses, an eye piercing scream that could be heard all around the theater erupted from her lips. The lantern shattered as it dropped to the floor amongst the blood and dust creating the second loud crash of the night. 

Footsteps were heard running to her location, and cries of "ANNA" echoed through the halls not moments later. She spun around to see that Antonio and Sean had arrived in the doorway, a worried look plastered upon both their faces. It only took them a moment to also see the blood that stained the floor, and the soles of Anna's new white shoes.

Police were called and witnessed questioned, but by the end of the night no real leads or clues were discovered. There was only one thing that was said for certain. 

John Kelly, was dead. 

***  
2018.

 

"I'm telling you all, you're going to love it here", Miss Medda Larkin tried to assure her kids as they pulled up the blue minivan to the decapitated theater.

Jack Kelly turned to look over at his adopted brother Spot, as they both took in the sight that was their new home. Jack also looked over at his younger sister Smalls, but she seemed to care less about the theater and more about the new Pokemon game she had gotten for her birthday only a few weeks prior.

"Wow, this place really is ancient", his other brother Crutchie said from the front seat. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was over a century old"

"it is", Smalls told him, not looking up from her game. "Built in 1857, and abandoned in 1907 after a series of murders took place on its property"

Spot looked confused for a second before glancing over at her. "Why do you know this?" 

She just shrugged as the moving truck pulled up besides us, and Medda jumped out to go greet it. "Grabbed your bags and junk out of the car", she told her four children, "And Smalls, no more stories about mass murders" 

The group of children quickly piled out of the car and made their way into the decrepit building they were now going to call home. Medda had told them that the first floor of the building was entirely the theater, and this became blatantly obvious as the group walked through the front doors. Rows of old and broken seated filled the giant front room, all pointing towards the massive stage that stood on the far end of the theater. 

What seemed to be original art work was painting all across the walls and ceiling of the room, and a chandelier that seemed to be missing a few of its pieces hung from the vaulted ceiling. Jack couldn't decided whether it reminded him of a horror movie, or one of those impressionism type Italian movies his friend Race made him watch on occasion.

"Well I'll be damned", Spot mumbled. "We have our very own theater"

There was a full three seconds of silence that followed Spots words, before Smalls voice broke it and echoed around the large room. "I call first dibs on rooms", she screamed, running towards the steps that lead to the second floor and taking them two at a time. Spot swore and quickly followed after her, obviously wanting to beat her to the best room. 

Jack and Crutchie however, remained on the ground floor taking in the scene around them. Jack was already thinking of the multiple different types of paintings he could do of this place and Crutchie could help but want to explore the halls that went off in multiple different directions. 

"Jack", Crutchie said, shifting the strap of his bag farther up onto his shoulder. "Call me crazy, but I think I'm gonna like it here"

And Jack silently agreed.


	2. Chapter 2: Did You Hear That?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Smalls try to discover the place they now call home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two here we go.

1905.

Anna was getting impatient.

Charlie was suppose to be here almost twenty minutes ago, yet the park showed no signs of life as the sun set slowly in the distance.

A week ago John had been found dead, and since then Anna hadn’t been able to get the image of his lifeless body lying on the floor of the prop room out of her mind. The cops had ruled it out as an accident, but she knew better.

And so did Charlie.

She pulled out the small pocket watch Sean had gifted her for her fifteenth birthday and checked it for the third time. Something was definitely wrong, Charlie was never late. No matter if it was to school or family dinner, Charlie had never been late in his entire life.

Anna felt her heart drop to her chest as an ear piercing scream rang out from the forest behind her. The night had grown progressively more quiet, and up until this moment even the birds had gone silent.

Without thinking she took off into the forest, not even knowing which direction the sound had come from. With the sun rapidly disappearing behind the horizon, shapes and shadows of the forest were all starting to blend together and form objects they were not.

"CHARLIE", Anna screamed, desperately searching for her friend. "CHARLIE WHERE ARE YOU"

Anna halted to a stop as a loud crack of footsteps was heard behind her. She turned around fast enough to see a dark shape take off into the woods, a glimmering necklace around the persons necklace shining as the last ray of sunlight hit it.

Every voice in her head was screaming to go after the person, but every thought of that was silenced when she heard a low moan emit from a bush a few feet to her right. With every last ounce of confidence that resided in her body, Anna slowly approached the noise and gently pushed the brush aside to reveal a wounded figure underneath it.

"Charlie?", she whispered, looking over her old friend.

"Anna?", the figure responded, opening his blue eyes to look up at the girl.

Without think she dived down to elope her friend in a hug, but quickly backed away when he winced in pain.

"We need to get you out of here", she said quickly, noticing that the sun was now almost completely gone. "Get up, I'll help you home"

"I can't", the young boy responded. "My leg, whatever that person did to it messed it up bad, I don't think I can walk"

Anna however wasn't convinced, and started ripping up part of her dress to craft a makeshift bandage. Carefully, she patched up his bleeding leg and slowly helped the boy up. It was tricky, and it was even harder in the dark, but the pair somehow managed to get home in one piece.

Charlie's leg however, was worse for wear. The doctors said it was lucky that they didn't have to remove it all together, and that it didn't get infected on their way home. Still, none of those things made up for the damning conclusion they were told later that day.

Charlie Morris, would never walk properly ever again.

***  
2018.

"Go fish"

Jack sighed as he picked up another card from the ever shortening deck that they had placed on the kitchen floor.

"Do you have a ten?", Smalls asked, looking over her cards.

"Go fish"

They had been at this for almost an hour now, playing card games on the kitchen floor and sulking when they lost. Living in a house where the electricity constantly went on and out, card and board games were no rare sight as you walked through the rooms of the upstairs apartment.

"Do you have a five?", Jack asked, and Smalls silently handed over one of the many cards that filled her deck.

It had started with Smalls playing a simple game of Solitary, but then Jack had challenged her to a game of War, which then escalated to a violent round of Rummy, and then finally ended with a calm game of Go Fish. Jack had also suggested a round of Poker, but that was quickly shot down after Smalls remembered the last time they had tried to play with Race and it almost ended in a fist fight.

"Oh well this is just pitiful", Spot announced as he entered the kitchen, Crutchie at his heels. "When I was in here an hour ago you guys were in the exact same position, please tell me you've moved a little since then"

"I got up to pee once", Smalls told him as she shuffled the deck. "And Jack got up once to grab us a bag of chips"

Spot paused for a moment, a look of disappointment mixed with confused spread across his face. "Just please try to find something else to do that doesn't involve sitting in the same place for hours on end", he told the pair as he grabbed an apple from one of the baskets that sat on the table. "Me and Crutchie are heading into town and you two better not still be playing here when we get back"

Spot and Crutchie left the kitchen and not a minute later the noise of the front door being slammed shut could be heard.

Smalls only waited a second after that before speaking up again, "Got any threes?"

***

Card games quickly got boring and board games yielded similar results. Spot and Crutchie still hadn't returned home, and Medda was out talking with the real estate agent about stealing her old house. In a rare occurrence at the Larkin household, everything was quiet.

Somehow, with the house being so empty, the theater appeared bigger and more intimidating than before. With its rows of decrepit seats and balcony boxes that looked like they could fall at any moment, in Jack's mind it seemed like biggest place he had ever been.

"We should explore", Smalls said, as the two walked down the stairs. "We've been here for over a week now and we've barely even scratched the surface on this place"

Jack made an attractive snorting sound in response. "Yeah and be crushed by falling balcony, no thanks" 

“Come on”, Smalls whined. “I’m bored out of my mind, and mom isn’t going to be home for at least two more hours. Let just choose a random hallway and take a look around”

As the pair reached the front of the theater, Jack sighed and looked down at his little sister. “You won’t give up will you?”

Smalls just gave him a small smirk before looking out over the rows of seats. “We should explore down that hallway”, she told him, pointing towards one of the many halls that spilled into the main room. 

Everything about the theater had an air of creepy around it, probably due to its age and decay, and the hall they choose to explore was no exception. Jack and Small stayed close as they followed the single beam of light emitting from one of their phones. With the electricity still not working, and the house making a slew of unexplained noises, Smalls was silently regretting this adventure.

“Did you hear that”, Smalls whispered, as another mysterious thump sounded.

“It was probably just the house settling”, Jack tried to reassure her, his voice slightly uneasy. “But maybe we should start heading back, Spot and Crutchie will probably be back soon and we don’t want them to think we died or something” 

Smalls opened her mouth to respond when a loud crash resounded from somewhere in the theater. The pair only looked at each other for a second before bolting back down the hall and to the safety of their apartment.

They decided exploring the theater could be saved for a day when the rest of the family was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally, we have a chapter 2.
> 
> Sorry for the long wait, I forgot to save like half the chapter and then I got horrible sick so it's been an interesting few days.


End file.
